The Wampanoag lived in southeastern Massachusetts and
Rhode Island in the beginning of the 17th century, at the time of first contact with the English colonists, a territory that included
Martha's Vineyard and
Nantucket islands. Their population numbered in the thousands due to the richness of the environment and their cultivation of corn, beans, and squash (3,000 Wampanoag lived on Martha's Vineyard alone).

From 1615 to 1619, the Wampanoag suffered an epidemic, long suspected to be
smallpox. Modern research, however, has suggested that it was
leptospirosis, a bacterial infection also known as Weil's syndrome or 7-day fever. It caused a high fatality rate and decimated the Wampanoag population. Researchers suggest that the losses from the epidemic were so large that English colonists were able to establish their settlements in the
Massachusetts Bay Colony more easily.[1] More than 50 years later,
King Philip's War (1675–1676) of Indian allies against the English colonists resulted in the death of 40 percent of the surviving tribe. Many male Wampanoag were sold into slavery in
Bermuda or the
West Indies, and some women and children were enslaved by colonists in New England.

The tribe largely disappeared from historical records after the late 18th century, although its people and descendants persisted. Survivors continued to live in their traditional areas and maintained many aspects of their culture, while absorbing other peoples by marriage and adapting to changing economic and cultural needs in the larger society. The last speakers of the
Massachusett languageWôpanâak died more than 100 years ago, although some Wampanoag people have been working on a language revival project since 1993. The project is also working on curriculum and teacher development.

Name

Block's map of his 1614 voyage, with the first appearance of the term "New Netherland"

Wampanoag means "Easterners" or literally "People of the Dawn."[2] The word Wapanoos was first documented on
Adriaen Block's 1614 map, which was the earliest European representation of Wampanoag territory. Other interpretations include "Wapenock," "Massasoit", and the
exonym "Philip's Indians."

In 1616,
John Smith erroneously referred to the entire Wampanoag confederacy as the
Pokanoket, one of the tribes. Pokanoket was used in the earliest colonial records and reports. The Pokanoket tribal seat was located near
Bristol, Rhode Island.

The Wampanoag people were semi-sedentary, with seasonal movements between sites in southern
New England.[3] The men often traveled far north and south along the Eastern seaboard for seasonal fishing expeditions, and sometimes stayed in those distant locations for weeks and months at a time. The women cultivated varieties of the "
three sisters" (
maize, climbing beans, and squash) as the staples of their diet, supplemented by fish and game caught by the men.[3] Each community had authority over a well-defined territory from which the people derived their livelihood through a seasonal round of fishing, planting, harvesting, and hunting. Southern New England was populated by various tribes, so hunting grounds had strictly defined boundaries.

The Wampanoag have a
matrilineal system, like many
indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, in which women controlled property and hereditary status was passed through the maternal line. They were also
matrifocal; when a young couple married, they lived with the woman's family. Women elders could approve selection of chiefs or sachems. Men acted in most of the political roles for relations with other bands and tribes, as well as warfare. Women with claims to plots of land used for farming or hunting passed those claims to their female descendants, regardless of their marital status.[4]

The production of food among the Wampanoag was similar to that of many American Indian societies, and food habits were divided along gender lines. Men and women had specific tasks. Women played an active role in many of the stages of food production, so they had important socio-political, economic, and spiritual roles in their communities.[5] Wampanoag men were mainly responsible for hunting and fishing, while women took care of farming and gathering wild fruits, nuts, berries, and shellfish.[6] Women were responsible for up to 75 percent of all food production in Wampanoag societies.[7][3]

The Wampanoag were organized into a confederation where a head
sachem presided over a number of other sachems. The colonists often referred to the sachem as "king," but the position of a sachem differed in many ways from what they knew of a king. Sachems were bound to consult their own councilors within their tribe, but also any of the "petty sachems" in the region.[8] They were also responsible for arranging trade privileges, as well as protecting their allies in exchange for material tribute.[9] Both women and men could hold the position of sachem, and women were sometimes chosen over close male relatives.[10]

Pre-marital sexual experimentation was accepted, although once couples opted to marry, the Wampanoag expected fidelity within unions.
Roger Williams (1603–1683) stated that "single fornication they count no sin, but after Marriage… they count it heinous for either of them to be false."[11] In addition, polygamy was practiced among the Wampanoag, although monogamy was the norm. Some elite men could take several wives for political or social reasons, and multiple wives were a symbol of wealth because women were the producers and distributors of corn and other food products. Marriage and conjugal unions were not as important as ties of clan and kinship.

Language and revival

Title page of the first Bible printed in the United States, translated in the Massachusett language by
John Eliot

The rapid decline of Wampanoag speakers began after the
American Revolution. Neal Salisbury and Colin G. Calloway suggest that New England Indian communities suffered from gender imbalances at this time due to premature male deaths, especially due to warfare and their work in whaling and shipping. They posit that many Wampanoag women married outside their linguistic groups, making it difficult for them to maintain the various Wampanoag dialects.[13]

Some Wampanoag have been working on a language revival since 1993. The Wôpanâak (Wampanoag) Language Reclamation Project is a collaboration of several tribes and bands led by
Jessie Little Doe Baird. They have taught a few children who have become the first speakers of Wôpanâak in more than 100 years.[12] The project is training teachers to reach more children and to develop a curriculum for a Wôpanâak-based school. Baird has compiled a 10,000-word dictionary from university collections of colonial documents in Wôpanâak, as well as a grammar, collections of stories, and other books.[12]

History

Early contacts between the Wampanoag and colonists date from the 16th century when European merchant vessels and fishing boats traveled along the coast of
New England. Captain Thomas Hunt captured several Wampanoag in 1614 and sold them in Spain as slaves. A
Patuxet named
Tisquantum (or
Squanto) was bought by Spanish monks who attempted to convert him before setting him free. He accompanied an expedition to Newfoundland as an interpreter, then made his way back to his homeland in 1619—only to discover that the entire Patuxet tribe had died in an epidemic.[14]

In 1620, the
Pilgrims arrived in
Plymouth, and Tisquantum and other Wampanoag taught them how to cultivate the varieties of corn, squash, and beans (the
Three Sisters) that flourished in New England, as well as how to catch and process fish and collect seafood. They enabled the Pilgrims to survive their first winters, and Squanto lived with them and acted as a middleman between them and Massasoit, the Wampanoag
sachem.

The Wampanoag suffered from an epidemic between 1616 and 1619, long thought to be smallpox introduced by contact with Europeans. However, researchers published a study in 2010 suggesting that the epidemic was
leptospirosis, or 7-day fever.[15] The groups most devastated by the illness were those who had traded heavily with the French, leading to speculation that the disease was a
virgin soil epidemic.
Alfred Crosby has speculated that the population losses were as high as 90 percent among the
Massachusett and mainland
Pokanoket.[16]

Since the late 20th century, the event celebrated as the first
Thanksgiving has been debated in the United States. Many American Indians argue against the romanticized story of the Wampanoag celebrating together with the colonists. Some say that there is no documentation of such an event, but there actually are two primary accounts of the 1621 event written by people who were present.[17]

Massasoit became gravely ill in the winter of 1623, but he was nursed back to health by the colonists. In 1632, the
Narragansetts attacked Massasoit's village in Sowam, but the colonists helped the Wampanoag to drive them back.[14]

Seal of Plymouth Colony

After 1630, the members of Plymouth Colony became outnumbered by the growing number of Puritans settling around Boston. The colonists expanded westward into the
Connecticut River Valley. In 1637, they destroyed the powerful
Pequot Confederation. In 1643, the
Mohegans defeated the Narragansetts in a war with support from the colonists, and they became the dominant tribe in southern New England.[14]

Conversion to Christianity

After 1650,
John Eliot and other Puritan missionaries sought to convert Indians to Christianity, and the converted Indians settled in 14 "praying towns." Eliot and his colleagues hoped that the Indians would adopt practices such as monogamous marriage, agriculture, and jurisprudence.[18] The high levels of epidemics among the Indians may have motivated some conversions. Salisbury suggests that the survivors suffered a type of spiritual crisis because their medical and religious leaders had been unable to prevent the epidemic losses.[19] By the latter half of the seventeenth century, alcoholism had become rampant among Indian men. Many turned for help to Christianity and Christian discipline systems. Christianity also became a refuge for women from drunkenness, with its insistence upon temperance and systems of retribution for drunkenness.[citation needed]

Individual towns and regions had differing expectations for Indian conversions. In most of Eliot's mainland "praying towns," religious converts were also expected to follow colonial laws and manners, and to adopt the material trappings of colonial life. Eliot and other ministers relied on praise and rewards for those who conformed, rather than punishing those who did not.[20] The Christian Indian settlements of
Martha's Vineyard were noted for a great deal of sharing and mixing between Wampanoag and colonial ways of life. Wampanoag converts often continued their traditional practices in dress, hairstyle, and governance. The Martha's Vineyard converts were not required to attend church and they often maintained traditional cultural practices, such as mourning rituals.[21]

The Wampanoag women were more likely to convert to Christianity than the men.
Experience Mayhew said that "it seems to be a Truth with respect to our Indians, so far as my knowledge of them extend, that there have been, and are a greater number of their Women appearing pious than of the men among them" in his text "Indian Converts". [22] The frequency of female conversion created a problem for missionaries, who wanted to establish patriarchal family and societal structures among them. Women had control of property, and inheritance and descent passed through their line, including hereditary leadership for men. Wampanoag women on Martha's Vineyard were the spiritual leaders of their households. In general, English ministers agreed that it was preferable for women to subvert the patriarchal model and assume a dominant spiritual role than it was for their husbands to remain unconverted. Experience Mayhew asked, "How can those Wives answer it unto God who do not Use their utmost Endeavors to Perswade and oblige their husbands to maintain Prayer in their families?"[23] In some cases, Wampanoag women converts accepted changed gender roles under colonial custom, while others practiced their traditional roles of shared power as Christians.

Metacomet (King Philip)

Massasoit was among those Indians who adopted colonial customs. He asked the legislators in Plymouth near the end of his life to give both of his sons English names. The older son
Wamsutta was given the name Alexander, and his younger brother
Metacom was named Philip. After his father's death, Alexander became the sachem of the Wampanoag. The colonists invited him to Plymouth to talk, but Wamsutta became seriously ill on the way home and died shortly after. The Wampanoag were told that he died of fever, but many Indians thought that he had been poisoned. The following year, his brother Philip (Metacom) became sachem of the Wampanoag.[24][unreliable source?]

Under Philip's leadership, the relationship changed dramatically between the Wampanoag and the colonists. Philip believed that the ever-increasing colonists would eventually take over everything—not only land, but also their culture, their way of life, and their religion, and he decided to limit the further expansion of colonial settlements. The Wampanoag numbered only 1,000, and Philip began to visit other tribes to build alliances among those who also wanted to push out the colonists. At that time, the number of colonists in southern New England already numbered more than double that of the Indians—35,000 vs. 15,000. In 1671, Philip was called to
Taunton, Massachusetts where he listened to the accusations of the colonists and signed an agreement that required the Wampanoag to give up their firearms. To be on the safe side, he did not take part in the subsequent dinner. His men never delivered their weapons.[24][unreliable source?]

Philip gradually gained the
Nipmuck,
Pocomtuc, and Narragansett as allies, and the beginning of the uprising was first planned for the spring of 1676. In March 1675, however,
John Sassamon was murdered.[25] Sassamon was a Christian Indian raised in Natick, one of the "praying towns." He was educated at
Harvard College and had served as a scribe, interpreter, and counselor to Philip and the Wampanoag. But, a week before his death, Sassamon reported to Plymouth governor
Josiah Winslow that Philip was planning a war against the colonists.

Sassamon was found dead under the ice of Assawompsett Pond a week later; three Wampanoag warriors were accused of his murder by a Christian Indian and taken captive by the colonists; they were hanged in June 1675 after a trial by a jury of 12 colonists and six Christian Indians. This execution was a catalyst for war, combined with rumors that the colonists wanted to capture Philip. Philip called a council of war on Mount Hope; most Wampanoag wanted to follow him, with the exception of the
Nauset on
Cape Cod and the small groups on the offshore islands. Allies included the Nipmuck, Pocomtuc, and some
Pennacook and eastern
Abenaki from farther north. The Narragansett remained neutral at the beginning of the war.[26]

King Philip's War

On June 20, 1675 some young Wampanoags trekked to
Swansea, killed some cattle, and scared the white settlers. The next day
King Philip's War broke out, and the Wampanoag attacked a number of white settlements, burning them to the ground. The unexpected attacks caused great panic among the English. The united tribes in southern New England attacked 52 of 90 English settlements, and partially burned them down.[24]

At the outbreak of the war, many pro-English Native Americans offered to fight with the English against King Philip and his allies, serving as warriors, scouts, advisers and spies. Mistrust and hostility eventually caused the English to discontinue Native American assistance, even though they were invaluable in the war. The English resented the Christian Indians "turning against them", ignoring their own part in the tensions. The Massachusetts government moved many Christian Indians to
Deer Island in
Boston Harbor, in part to protect the "praying Indians" from English
vigilantes, but also as a precautionary measure to prevent rebellion and sedition from them.[27]Mary Rowlandson's The Sovereignty and Goodness of God, an account of her months of captivity by the Wampanoag during King Philip's War, expresses English prejudice against the Christian Native Americans. She complains of their cruelties towards "fellow" Christians, singling Christian converts out for fierce verbal attacks.[28]

From Massachusetts, the war spread to other parts of New England. Some tribes from
Maine – the Kennebec, Pigwacket (
Pequawkets) and
Arosaguntacook – joined in the war against the English. The Narragansett of Rhode Island gave up their neutrality after the colonists attacked one of their fortified villages. In that battle, which became known as the "
Great Swamp Massacre," the Narragansett lost more than 600 people and 20 sachems. Their leader, Canonchet, was able to flee and led a large group of Narragansett warriors west to join King Philip's warriors.[24]

In the spring of 1676, following a winter of hunger and deprivation, the tide turned against Philip. The English troops set out on a relentless chase after him, and his best ally—Sachem Canonchet of the Narragansett—was taken captive and executed by a firing squad. Canonchet's corpse was quartered, and his head was sent to
Hartford, Connecticut, to be put on public display.[24]

During the summer months, Philip escaped from his pursuers and went to a hideout on
Mount Hope. In August, after Indian scouts discovered the hideout, the English attacked, killing or taking captive 173 Wampanoag. Philip barely escaped capture, but among the prisoners were his wife and their nine-year-old son. Taken onto a ship at Plymouth, they were sold as slaves in the
West Indies. On August 12, 1676, English troops surrounded Philip's camp, and soon shot and killed him. They cut off his head, displaying it for twenty years on a pike in Plymouth.[24]

Consequences of the war

With the death of Philip and most of their leaders, the Wampanoags were nearly exterminated; only about 400 survived the war. The Narragansett and
Nipmuck suffered similar rates of losses, and many small tribes in southern New England were, for all intents and purposes, finished. In addition, many Wampanoag were sold into slavery. Male captives were generally sold to
slave traders and transported to the West Indies,
Bermuda,
Virginia, or the
Iberian Peninsula. The colonists used the women and children as slaves in New England. Of those Indians not sold into slavery, the colony forced them to move into
Natick, Wamesit, Punkapoag, and Hassanamesit, four of the original fourteen praying towns. These were the only ones to be resettled after the war.[29] Overall, approximately five thousand Native Americans (forty percent of their population) and twenty-five hundred English colonists (five percent) were killed in King Philip's War. By this time, the English population had increased so much that, while significant, the losses were less important for their overall society.[30]

18th to 20th century

Mashpee

The exception to relocation was the coastal islands' Wampanoag groups, who had stayed neutral through the war. The colonists forced the Wampanoag of the mainland to resettle with the Saconnet (Sekonnet), or with the
Nauset into the praying towns in
Barnstable County.
Mashpee is the largest
reservation set aside in Massachusetts, and is located on
Cape Cod. In 1660, the colonists allotted the Indians about 50 square miles (130 km2) there, and beginning in 1665 they had self-government, adopting an English-style court of law and trials. The area was integrated into the district of Mashpee in 1763.

In the 1740s, during
King George's War,
John Gorham was in command of
Gorham's Independent Company of Rangers. Initially, the company was made up of primarily Wampanoag men, and was stationed in
Nova Scotia.[31] Several of those who had remained neutral or were loyal to the English during the conflict migrated to Nova Scotia, beginning in the 1750s, and established a community on and around what is now Cape Sable Island.

In 1788 after the
American Revolutionary War, the state revoked the Wampanoag ability to self-govern, considering it a failure. It appointed a supervisory committee consisting of five European-American members, with no Wampanoag. In 1834, the state returned a certain degree of self-government to the First Nations People, and although the First Nations People were far from autonomous, they continued in this manner. To support assimilation, in 1842 the state violated the Nonintercourse Act when it illegally allocated plots from 2,000 acres (8.1 km2) of their communal 13,000 acres (53 km2), to be distributed in 60-acre (240,000 m2) parcels to each household for subsistence farming, although New England communities were adopting other types of economies. The state passed laws to try to control white encroachment on the reservation; some stole wood from its forests. A large region, once rich in wood, fish and game, it was considered highly desirable by the whites. With competition between whites and the Wampanoag, conflicts were more frequent than for more isolated Indian settlements elsewhere in the state.

Wampanoag on Martha's Vineyard

On Martha's Vineyard in the 18th and 19th centuries, there were three reservations—
Chappaquiddick, Christiantown and
Gay Head. The Chappaquiddick Reservation was part of a small island of the same name and was located on the eastern point of that island. As the result of the sale of land in 1789, the Indians lost valuable areas, and the remaining land was distributed among the Indian residents in 1810. In 1823 the laws were changed, in order to hinder those trying to get rid of the Indians and to implement a visible beginning of a civic organization. Around 1849, they owned 692 acres (2.80 km2) of infertile land, and many of the residents moved to nearby
Edgartown, so that they could practice a trade and obtain some civil rights.[32]

Christiantown was originally a "praying town" on the northwest side of Martha's Vineyard, northwest of
Tisbury. In 1849 the reservation still consisted of 390 acres (1.6 km2), of which all but 10 were distributed among the residents. The land, kept under community ownership, yielded very few crops and the tribe members left it to get paying jobs in the cities. Wampanoag
oral history tells that Christiantown was wiped out in 1888 by a
smallpox epidemic.[32]

The third reservation on Martha's Vineyard was constructed in 1711 by the
New England Company (founded in 1649) to Christianize the Indians. They bought land for the Gay Head Indians who had lived there since before 1642. There was considerable dispute about how the land should be cultivated, as the colony had leased the better sections to the whites at low interest. The original goal of creating an undisturbed center for missionary work was quickly forgotten. The state finally created a reservation on a peninsula on the western point of Martha's Vineyard and named it Gay Head. This region was connected to the main island by an isthmus; it enabled the isolation desired by the Wampanoag. In 1849 they had 2,400 acres (9.7 km2) there, of which 500 acres were distributed among the tribe members. The rest was communal property. In contrast to the other reservation groups, the tribe had no guardian or headman. When they needed advice on legal questions, they asked the guardian of the Chappaquiddick Reservation, but other matters they handled themselves. The band used
usufruct title members had no legal claim to their land and allowed the tribal members free rein over their choice of land, as well as over cultivation and building, in order to make their ownership clear. They did not allow whites to settle on their land. They made strict laws regulating membership in the tribe. As a result, they were able to strengthen the groups' ties to each other, and they did not lose their tribal identity until long after the other groups had lost theirs.[32]

The Wampanoag on
Nantucket Island were almost completely destroyed by an unknown
plague in 1763; the last Nantucket died in 1855.[32]

Current status

Slightly more than 2,000 Wampanoag are counted as enrolled members of the nation today (many have ancestry including other tribes and races), and many live near the
reservation (Watuppa Wampanoag Reservation) on Martha's Vineyard, in
Dukes County. It is located in the town of
Aquinnah (formerly known as Gay Head), at the extreme western part of the island. It has a land area of 1.952 square kilometres (482 acres), and a
2000 census resident population of 91 persons.

Several bands of the Wampanoag have organized governments: Aquinnah of Gay Head, Herring Pond, Mashpee, Pocasset, Pokonoket and Seekonk. Only the Aquinnah and Mashpee bands have gained federal recognition, although the other bands are recognized by the state of Massachusetts and have also applied for federal recognition as tribes.

Some genealogy experts testified that the tribes did not demonstrate the required continuity since historic times. For instance, in his testimony to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the historian Francis Hutchins said that the Mashpee "were not an Indian tribe in the years 1666, 1680, 1763, 1790, 1834, 1870, and 1970, or at anytime between 1666 and 1970 (Day 36, 130–140). In his opinion, an Indian tribe was "an entity composed of persons of American Indian descent, which entity possesses distinct political, legal, cultural attributes, which attributes have descended directly from aboriginal precursors." (Day 36, 124). Without accounting for cultural change, adaptation, and the effects of non-Indian society, Hutchins argued the Mashpee were not an Indian tribe historically because they adopted Christianity and non-Indian forms of dress and appearance, and chose to remain in Massachusetts as "second-class" citizens rather than emigrating westward (note: to Indian Territory) to "resume tribal existence." Hutchins also noted that they intermarried with non-Indians to create a "non-white," or "colored," community (Day 36, 130–140). Hutchins appeared to require unchanged culture, including maintenance of a traditional religion and essentially total social autonomy from non-Indian society."[33]

Wampanoag federally recognized tribes

Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah)

The Aquinnah ("land under the hill"[34][35]) Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head, Massachusetts are the only Wampanoag tribe to have a formal land-in-trust reservation, which is located on Martha's Vineyard. Their reservation consists of 485 acres (1.96 km2) and is located on the outermost southwest part of the island. Aquinnah Wampanoag descendants formed the "Wampanoag Tribal Council of Gay Head, Inc." in 1972 for the purpose of self-determination and receiving federal recognition. Its members received government recognition in 1987 from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The tribe has 1,121 registered members.[36]

Gladys Widdiss, an Aquinnah Wampanoag tribal historian and potter, served as the President of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head from 1978 to 1987.[39] The Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head won federal recognition from the United States government during her tenure.[39] Under Widdis, the Aquinnah Wampanoag also acquired the Herring Creek, the
Gay Head Cliffs, and the cranberry bogs surrounding Gay Head (now called Aquinnah) during her presidency.[39]

The Aquinnah Wampanoag are led by tribal council chair Cheryl Andrews-Maltais, who was elected to the post in November 2007.[40] In 2010, Andrews-Maltais put forward plans for the development of an Aquinnah reservation casino, which was met with opposition by state and local officials.[41] Current Chairperson is Tobias Vanderhoop.

Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe

This section needs to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(February 2013)

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe consists of more than 1,400 enrolled members[42] who must meet defined membership requirements including lineage, community involvement and reside within 20 miles of Mashpee.[43] Since 1924 they have held an annual
powwow at the beginning of July in
Mashpee. The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council was established in 1972 under the leadership of its first president, Russell "Fast Turtle" Peters. In 1974 the Council petitioned the Bureau of Indian Affairs for recognition. In 1976 the tribe sued the Town of Mashpee for the return of ancestral homelands. The case was lost but the tribe continued to pursue federal recognition for three decades.

In 2000 the Mashpee Wampanoag Council was headed by chairman Glenn Marshall. Marshall led the group until 2007 when it was disclosed that he had a prior conviction for rape, had lied about having a military record and was under investigation associated for improprieties associated with the tribe's casino lobbying efforts.[44] Marshall was succeeded by tribal council vice- chair Shawn Hendricks. He held the position until Marshall pleaded guilty in 2009 to federal charges of embezzling, wire fraud, mail fraud, tax evasion and election finance law violations. He steered tens of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions to politicians through the tribe's hired lobbyist
Jack Abramoff, who was convicted of numerous charges in a much larger scheme.[45][46] Following the arrests of Abramoff and Marshall, the newly recognized Mashpee Tribe led by new chair Shawn Hendricks, continued to work with Abramoff lobbyist colleague
Kevin A. Ring pursuing their Indian gaming-related interests.[47] Ring was subsequently convicted on corruption charges linked to his work for the Mashpee band. Tribal elders who had sought access to the tribal council records detailing the council's involvement in this scandal via a complaint filed in Barnstable Municipal Court were shunned by the council and banned them from the tribe for seven years.[48]

In 2009 the tribe elected council member
Cedric Cromwell to the position of council chair and president. Cromwell ran a campaign based on reforms and distancing himself from the previous chairmen, even though he had served as a councilor for the prior six years during which the Marshall and Abramoff scandals took place - including voting for the shunning of tribe members who tried to investigate.[49] A challenge to Cromwell's election by defeated candidates following allegations of tampering with voting and enrollment records was filed with the Tribal Court, and Cromwell's administration has been hampered by a series of protest by Elders over casino-related finances.[50][51]

The Mashpee Wampanoag tribal offices are located in Mashpee on Cape Cod. After decades of legal disputes, the Mashpee Wampanoag obtained provisional recognition as an Indian tribe from the Bureau of Indian Affairs in April 2006, and official Federal recognition in February 2007.[52] Tribal members own some land, as well as land held in common by Wampanoag descendants at both Chapaquddick and Christiantown. Descendants have also purchased land in
Middleborough, Massachusetts upon which the tribe under Glenn A. Marshall's leadership had lobbied to build a
casino. The tribe has moved its plans to
Taunton, Massachusetts but their territorial rights have been challenged by the Pocasset Wampanoag.[53]

The Wampanoag Tribe's current plan has agreement for financing by the Malaysian
Genting Group and has the political support of Massachusetts Senator
John Kerry,[56] Massachusetts Governor
Deval Patrick, and former Massachusetts Congressman
Bill Delahunt, who is working as a lobbyist to represent the casino project.[57] Both Kerry[58] and Delahunt[59] received campaign contributions from the Wampanoag Tribe in transactions authorized by Glenn Marshall as part of the Abramoff lobbying scandal.

In November 2011, the Massachusetts legislature passed a law to license up to three sites for gaming resort casinos and one for a slot machine parlor.[60] The Wampanoag are given a "headstart" to develop plans for a casino in southeastern part of the state.[61]

Wampanoag state-recognized tribes

Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe

The Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe, headed by tribal council chair Kevin Harding, is not federally recognized. HIstorically one of the "praying towns" set up in the colonial era by The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, they are involved in the Wampanoag Language Reclamation Project.[62] In 1924 they helped organize the annual
powwow at the beginning of July, which is now hosted in Mashpee. The first few pow wows in over 200 years were held at the Herring Pond Wampanoag Meetinghouse before expanding and moving to Mashpee. The Mashpee Wampanoag and Herring Pond both petitioned at the same time to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for recognition.[63] They maintain offices in
Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. The Herring Pond Tribe claims as traditional lands a territory which ranges from the Plymouth (Plimouth Colony) areas to the upper parts of Cape Cod (Bourne, Sandwich and Plymouth).[64]

Namasket (or Nemasket) Pokanoket Band

The Namasket (or Nemasket) Pokanoket Band was organized in 2000. It is one of the Pokanoket royal family clans of the Wattupa Reservation State Park in
Freetown and
Fall River, Massachusetts. Led by council chairman Chief George Spring Buffalo, it is clan members of the Pocasset State Recognized tribe. Tuspaquin and Anne [Black Sachem] was the Namasket Band of Royal family of the Pokanoket's resided in villages around the Taunton River near modern-day
Middleborough, Massachusetts. It also included
Squanto of the
Patuxet tribe. Today's remaining Namasket lines are most related to the current-day Pocasset tribe of the Pokanoket Nation of Fall River.[65]

Pocasset Wampanoag Tribe (Pokonoket)

The Pocasset Wampanoag band has held lands in Fall River, Massachusetts since colonial times. They are the descendants and heirs of the Natives described in a deed from
Benjamin Church dated November 1, 1709. Their government is organized under a traditional, clan-based system.[66] They manage a 201.2 acre reservation in Fall River[67] recognized under international law via the 1713 Treaty of Portsmouth[68] and the 1725 Treaty of Boston.
[3][69] These treaties were entered into after the
Queen Anne's War, following raids such as those at
Deerfield and
Haverhill.

In 1869 the Commonwealth of Massachusetts passed the "enfranchisement act".[70] This act would dissolve reservation status for lands held by the tribes, replacing it with fee-simple property allocated to individual Indians upon application of any member of that tribe to the judge of probate in the county that the lands were located.[71] The Pocasset resisted the enfranchisement act and prior attempts to divide the reserve into smaller parcels.[72] In the late 20th century, they resisted an attempt to have their lands put into federal trust,[73] managing to keep their lands intact.[74] The Nation has members living throughout Southeastern Massachusetts.[75] They applied for federal recognition in 1995, but were turned down.[76]

Notable Pocasset

Corbitant, sachem or sagamore of the Pocassets,

Weetamoo, his daughter and successor as the sachem of the Pocasset. One of her husbands was
Wamsutta, a brother to King Phillip or Metacom. The English colonists cut off Weetamoo's head and displayed it on a pike in Taunton, MA.

Woonekanuske, daughter of Corbitant, sister of Weetamoo,and wife of Metacom. Woonekanuske and her son were sold into slavery and transported to the
Bermuda.